Lessons from My Garden

In the past month or so the majority of my contact with the outside world has been through looking at the blogs of sisters in my ward. Reading their stories has been a great reprieve to me and I realized that I don't write much about what's going on in my life as this blog was started as an easy way to get pictures to family who we see about every six months. So, with this in mind I share the following experience.

The other day I was sitting at my computer (as I do everyday) looking out the window onto my balcony garden. I saw something very interesting. Look at this picture and see if you can tell what's wrong with it.

If you can't tell this is a tomato plant...and it's dead. In it's last moments it was still trying to produce a tomato. As I thought about how emotionally drained and empty I felt I saw myself in this tomato plant. I was trying to give when I felt I had nothing to give. At enrichment I went to the MAD COW class and one of the quotes talked about how you cannot draw water from an empty well (or grow tomatoes on a dead plant). May we each take a little time to recharge our batteries so we can continue to serve our families and move forward with our lives in happiness.

On a lighter note: Today is the 8th of November and this is what I saw in my garden today.

This tomato plant has decided not to die this winter until it's done growing it's tomatoes. Can you believe it? Fresh tomatoes in November!

This is the baby rose bush I got for Mother's Day. The day we brought it home all the blossoms fell off. This is the first bud we've gotten and, despite the colder weather, it's not giving up either.